1. Field of the Invention
The invention is related to an electronic balance having a measured value receiver, a digital signal processing unit, a digital display, a tare key, and a 10-key keyboard (with 10 keys) for inputting data and commands. A counter is also provided in said the digital signal processing unit, which is advanced by one each time the tare key, for example, is actuated.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In many applications it is desirable that an electronic balance display a consecutive number in addition to displaying the measured result of the balance. During dosing, for example, the number of the component which is being dosed is of interest; or, during the checking of finished packages for statistical purposes the number of the packages already weighed is of interest. The counter in the digital signal processing unit of the present invention is provided for calculating the consecutive number.
It is known, for example, in order to show the counter's reading, that the number of digits of the digital display can be increased and the consecutive number displayed to the left in front of the measured value display. Or, instead of the weighing result, the consecutive number maybe briefly displayed in the digital display. However, both of these methods, readily cause confusion, because the digital display is intended to normally displays weighing results. The provision of an additional display for this consecutive number is also known, e.g. in the form of a two-line LCD display, as is described in DE-OS No. 34 04 926. However, this makes the display elements considerably more expensive.
Moreover, CH No. 422,367 teaches the construction of several adjacent linear 10-key keyboards as luminous keyboards which are used to display the measured value. These keyboards are not displaying an additional numeric value but rather the displaying of the measured value; correspondingly, at a balance resolution of 10,000 increments four 10-key luminous keyboards with a corresponding place requirement are necessary.